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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
Wow. It took me about 5 weeks of heavy reading to finish this monster of a book.
I will begin with the good parts.
Fantastic beginning to a book with meticulous descriptions of ancient Egyptian banquets atmosphere etc. Life through the eyes of the young Cleopatra is vivid and well imagined. I liked the cosy, familiar relationship the author creates between a young Cleopatra and the mummified remains of Alexander the Great. This was the ONLY inspired moment in this whole pit of deception of a book. And I don’t like to be deceived. Margaret George did just that. *angry face*.
The ending also was sort of good (for lack of a better word), maybe a little heartfelt. It was certainly enjoyable (for the wrong reasons). I have never anticipated the suicide of a main character more so than that of Cleopatra (because it signaled the end of this drab – hooray!). Sadly, parts of the ending didn't convey a sense of realism enough for me e.g. one minute Cleopatra is rotting away in a cell, the next she is decked out in lavish ceremonial clothing feasting by the sarcophagus of the freshly murdered Anthony. Perspective anyone?
And in between the promising beginning and the long anticipated end...
The narrative becomes an unrelenting spew of historical information completely unlike what I had imagined it to be. I imagined a beautiful account depicting the sensuous, atmospheric, mysterious and lost world, with Cleopatra at its center. What we get is a barrage of accounts of ancient Roman wars, page upon page of love encounters that serve no additional purpose to the story as well as painfully unrealistic character traits all culminate in a regurgitated account of the life of Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony as told by a weak and desperate-for-male-attention Cleopatra.
For example; although a thoroughly educated Queen for her time, it's not plausible in my mind for Cleopatra to have an unrealistically in-depth understanding and analysis of ancient Roman warfare. It is unbelievable for Cleopatra to know what particular strategic moves were correct and where Caesar had failed. Because if she had had all this great knowledge and expertise, then surely Cleopatra would have been a fantastic general and wouldn't need to grovel to Rome for practically the entire book! To assume that Cleopatra knew better than all the greatest generals of that time and that she could "read their minds" and predict their moves had an air of ancient feminism. How annoying.
And as NUMEROUS people have commented, this book is in DIRE need of an editor e.g. Page 1092: As Cleopatra was confronted with the body of Marc Anthony, in her anguish and suffering the author writes that she said "I could stand it. This was not him." which I'm sure should have been "I COULDN'T stand it. This was not him". And similar silly mistakes throughout the entire 1130 pages which I found to be disruptive and agonising. How did it ever get published?
What was even worse was that throughout the book I had this distinct and suspicious feeling that this must be the handiwork of two people. One was historian (who wrote the meticulous descriptions of warfare with flare). The other, a romantic “young adults” books writer. The latter, burning my eyes with "kissing my neck" and "swooping me in his arms" over and over again which had the sad effect of dampening instead of elevating this wonderful historical figure.
Finally, I always judge a book by the feelings it gives me in its last pages. This one? Bloody hell glad that’s over *throws book out of the window*.
I will begin with the good parts.
Fantastic beginning to a book with meticulous descriptions of ancient Egyptian banquets atmosphere etc. Life through the eyes of the young Cleopatra is vivid and well imagined. I liked the cosy, familiar relationship the author creates between a young Cleopatra and the mummified remains of Alexander the Great. This was the ONLY inspired moment in this whole pit of deception of a book. And I don’t like to be deceived. Margaret George did just that. *angry face*.
The ending also was sort of good (for lack of a better word), maybe a little heartfelt. It was certainly enjoyable (for the wrong reasons). I have never anticipated the suicide of a main character more so than that of Cleopatra (because it signaled the end of this drab – hooray!). Sadly, parts of the ending didn't convey a sense of realism enough for me e.g. one minute Cleopatra is rotting away in a cell, the next she is decked out in lavish ceremonial clothing feasting by the sarcophagus of the freshly murdered Anthony. Perspective anyone?
And in between the promising beginning and the long anticipated end...
The narrative becomes an unrelenting spew of historical information completely unlike what I had imagined it to be. I imagined a beautiful account depicting the sensuous, atmospheric, mysterious and lost world, with Cleopatra at its center. What we get is a barrage of accounts of ancient Roman wars, page upon page of love encounters that serve no additional purpose to the story as well as painfully unrealistic character traits all culminate in a regurgitated account of the life of Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony as told by a weak and desperate-for-male-attention Cleopatra.
For example; although a thoroughly educated Queen for her time, it's not plausible in my mind for Cleopatra to have an unrealistically in-depth understanding and analysis of ancient Roman warfare. It is unbelievable for Cleopatra to know what particular strategic moves were correct and where Caesar had failed. Because if she had had all this great knowledge and expertise, then surely Cleopatra would have been a fantastic general and wouldn't need to grovel to Rome for practically the entire book! To assume that Cleopatra knew better than all the greatest generals of that time and that she could "read their minds" and predict their moves had an air of ancient feminism. How annoying.
And as NUMEROUS people have commented, this book is in DIRE need of an editor e.g. Page 1092: As Cleopatra was confronted with the body of Marc Anthony, in her anguish and suffering the author writes that she said "I could stand it. This was not him." which I'm sure should have been "I COULDN'T stand it. This was not him". And similar silly mistakes throughout the entire 1130 pages which I found to be disruptive and agonising. How did it ever get published?
What was even worse was that throughout the book I had this distinct and suspicious feeling that this must be the handiwork of two people. One was historian (who wrote the meticulous descriptions of warfare with flare). The other, a romantic “young adults” books writer. The latter, burning my eyes with "kissing my neck" and "swooping me in his arms" over and over again which had the sad effect of dampening instead of elevating this wonderful historical figure.
Finally, I always judge a book by the feelings it gives me in its last pages. This one? Bloody hell glad that’s over *throws book out of the window*.
The famous Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt & last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George tells Cleopatra’s story through the lens of the Queen herself. The author describes this story as being a “mesmerizing tale of ambition, passion, and betrayal” and I couldn’t agree more. It begins when the “twenty-year-old queen seeks out the most powerful man in the world, Julius Caesar, and does not end until, having survived the assassination of Caesar and the defeat of the second man she loves, Marc Antony, she plots her own death rather than be paraded in triumph through the streets of Rome.” Each page includes vivid descriptions of ancient sites, in addition to well-researched portrayal of historic figures. This is truly a top read in regards to historical novels & I couldn’t recommend it more.
When you read this book you feel like you are walking and living the life that cleopatra lived. It's long but its so worth it. I have read it four times.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I began reading this while working full time. I had phases of reading this book in small increments of time close together. And mostly larger gaps of time in between reading . The history of Egypt is something I feel naturally drawn to. Because history is written by the victors , which in this case was Rome, Cleopatra was depicted in a bias account. This book starts from the earliest memories of her mother and captures her true spirit, her inner thoughts although it is fiction it gives the reader a feeling of connection to her spirit and its development . Cleopatra was a very intelligent woman that could speak different languages and was a brilliant politician and war strategist. She was someone to be reckoned with. I liked that Cleopatra's childhood friends remained in her life up to her end Olympos became her doctor Mardian her scribe.
Then of course was the story Romance between Cleopatra and her two loves Caesar and Antony with there twists and turns. Cleopatra had her dark side as well in demanding that Anthony give orders to have her sister Arsinoe taken out of her temple Sanctuary and killed she was killed on the temple stairs. I love the descriptions of the settings it gave me a feel of what it was like to be there at the time. It certainly took me a long time to read this but I had the desire to keep with it. I may reread someday.
Then of course was the story Romance between Cleopatra and her two loves Caesar and Antony with there twists and turns. Cleopatra had her dark side as well in demanding that Anthony give orders to have her sister Arsinoe taken out of her temple Sanctuary and killed she was killed on the temple stairs. I love the descriptions of the settings it gave me a feel of what it was like to be there at the time. It certainly took me a long time to read this but I had the desire to keep with it. I may reread someday.
This book was great nice recently been interested in ancient Egypt and Cleopatra herself. I felt like I knew her after this book. It felt so real and so personal.
The Memoirs of Cleopatra is truly a magnificent book, a skilled work of art by Margaret George, that I really don't know what to say apart from saying it is a must-read for all fans of Cleopatra (and those, like me, who are interested, but not obsessed with, the last Ptolemaic queen).
It must be tempting to focus on the two most famous (or infamous) parts of Cleopatra's life – her affair with Julius Caesar and the last months of her life with Mark Antony – but Margaret George steers away from defining Cleopatra by these most famous moments. Instead, George grounds Cleopatra firstly in her history as a queen of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty and as a descendent of Alexander the Great (the Alexander stuff might have been my favourite part of the novel), as well as part of the world she inhabits – for some strange reason, I really enjoyed Cleopatra's scenes with Herod. But while these writings are memoirs, George never peppers her story with references to these great events in Cleopatra's life, and when she does refer to later events, it feels fully justified.
And while we get the infamous rug scene and Cleopatra's last stand, we also get to see the complexities of her relationship with both Caesar and Antony up close, to the point where we sense her dissatisfaction with Caesar, who refuses to give her what she wants, and with Antony, who is slow to devote himself wholly to Cleopatra and who almost seems to fail to live up to Cleopatra's expectations.
As for the characterisation of Cleopatra herself, it's a feat. There is a sense that Cleopatra is truly extraordinary, but George refrains from hitting us over the head with how truly special Cleopatra is, and lets us see her doubts and insecurities. George never drags Cleopatra into that annoying Mary-Sue territory. Is this the real Cleopatra? There are so many distortions and different representations of Cleopatra that it's impossible to tell just who the real Cleopatra was – but I like to think that this was her.
So too is the characterisation of Antony complex and thoroughly enjoyable. I'm a bit fond of Octavian/Augustus, and didn't really mind how George handled him. But the most mysterious character for me was Julius Caesar. I have a tiny thing about him after doing a school assignment on him when I was around 10, and George's Caesar definitely satisfied that part of me.
So my negative points of the book are largely superficial. I couldn't really get behind the conspiracy theory that Caesar had a later, secret will that named his and Cleopatra's son, Caesarion, as his sole heir that was somehow lost. For one thing, it probably would have been thrown out if it existed since -Roman law forbade bequests to foreigners (which Caesarion, being Egyptian-born, was). Secondly, it seemed to come out of nowhere at a later date – Cleopatra's initial reaction to Caesar's will that named Octavian as his principle heir gave no inkling that she suspected another will.
Finally, I got really tired of hearing how Octavian wore built-up sandals. It felt like that Margaret George found the idea so hilarious she had Cleopatra mention it as often as possible. To me, it was as amusing as someone repeatedly going "haha, Tom Cruise is short" – which is to say, not very funny at all and getting less amusing all the time. But it was a relatively minor tick of mine and it might just be me being oversensitive because I am a little fond of Octavian.
All things considered, the negative points of the books are largely superficial and insignificant. The Memoirs of Cleopatra is a truly extraordinary book, one well-worth the read, and one that I would happily recommend to historical fiction buffs.
It must be tempting to focus on the two most famous (or infamous) parts of Cleopatra's life – her affair with Julius Caesar and the last months of her life with Mark Antony – but Margaret George steers away from defining Cleopatra by these most famous moments. Instead, George grounds Cleopatra firstly in her history as a queen of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty and as a descendent of Alexander the Great (the Alexander stuff might have been my favourite part of the novel), as well as part of the world she inhabits – for some strange reason, I really enjoyed Cleopatra's scenes with Herod. But while these writings are memoirs, George never peppers her story with references to these great events in Cleopatra's life, and when she does refer to later events, it feels fully justified.
And while we get the infamous rug scene and Cleopatra's last stand, we also get to see the complexities of her relationship with both Caesar and Antony up close, to the point where we sense her dissatisfaction with Caesar, who refuses to give her what she wants, and with Antony, who is slow to devote himself wholly to Cleopatra and who almost seems to fail to live up to Cleopatra's expectations.
As for the characterisation of Cleopatra herself, it's a feat. There is a sense that Cleopatra is truly extraordinary, but George refrains from hitting us over the head with how truly special Cleopatra is, and lets us see her doubts and insecurities. George never drags Cleopatra into that annoying Mary-Sue territory. Is this the real Cleopatra? There are so many distortions and different representations of Cleopatra that it's impossible to tell just who the real Cleopatra was – but I like to think that this was her.
So too is the characterisation of Antony complex and thoroughly enjoyable. I'm a bit fond of Octavian/Augustus, and didn't really mind how George handled him. But the most mysterious character for me was Julius Caesar. I have a tiny thing about him after doing a school assignment on him when I was around 10, and George's Caesar definitely satisfied that part of me.
So my negative points of the book are largely superficial. I couldn't really get behind the conspiracy theory that Caesar had a later, secret will that named his and Cleopatra's son, Caesarion, as his sole heir that was somehow lost. For one thing, it probably would have been thrown out if it existed since -Roman law forbade bequests to foreigners (which Caesarion, being Egyptian-born, was). Secondly, it seemed to come out of nowhere at a later date – Cleopatra's initial reaction to Caesar's will that named Octavian as his principle heir gave no inkling that she suspected another will.
Finally, I got really tired of hearing how Octavian wore built-up sandals. It felt like that Margaret George found the idea so hilarious she had Cleopatra mention it as often as possible. To me, it was as amusing as someone repeatedly going "haha, Tom Cruise is short" – which is to say, not very funny at all and getting less amusing all the time. But it was a relatively minor tick of mine and it might just be me being oversensitive because I am a little fond of Octavian.
All things considered, the negative points of the books are largely superficial and insignificant. The Memoirs of Cleopatra is a truly extraordinary book, one well-worth the read, and one that I would happily recommend to historical fiction buffs.
This was a fantastic biographical fiction about Cleopatra. I highly recommend it to those interested in both her life, and ancient history.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
L O N G
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, War
Moderate: Incest, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy
Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide
emotional
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
“I will even not rant about treachery. I was brought up in a sea of treachery and deceit and betrayal. I swam in it like perch in the Nile. I am completely at home in it. I shall not drown.”
After almost two weeks (maybe three?), I have finished this mammoth of a novel. There are no words to describe the undertaking of reading it and how completely engrossed I became while doing so. I thought myself insane for reading this but I found it to be a majestic education in description and writing in general. Every single word has been carefully chosen for its impact. The author's care for her subject and all the research she did is to be admired. How lovely it was to read a novel that cared to portray Cleopatra fairly and not besmirch her as so many have done. I'm going to miss all these characters, so distinct in their voices, behaviors and mannerisms. Cleopatra is a fantastic protagonist: fierce, proud, painfully human. I never tired of her for even a single moment as I read.
tl;dr I'm officially a Cleopatra stan.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, War
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Suicide, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Miscarriage, Murder